Health Insurance for Job Seekers? Alternatives to Lame COBRA

When I got laid off I was offered the “opportunity” to pay for COBRA, which I understand to be my same health insurance benefits that I would pay for.  They were somewhere around $1k/month.  Here’s a great page to explain the what and why of COBRA.

I’m sorry but the weak benefits my company offered, and that price, where completely unrealistic.  The only real benefit that I can see from this legislation is for people who have “pre-existing conditions,” which is a term that allows insurance companies to act worse than the mafia.

Ask me how I really feel about all this stuff.

Anyway, when I blogged about my son’s encounter with the tetherball pole (we now have more information on HOW it happened, and why it was so severe (a poorly placed screw actually swiped his head, causing the long and deep gash)), I got emails and calls from people asking about our insurance.

Here’s what we have to cover stuff like this: an accident policy (I’m not sure what it’s technically called, but that’s what I’ll call it here).

We were researching different insurance options and one policy we liked had a $5k deductible. The insurance agent recommended we get a $5k accident policy to cover stuff like this… from $0 to $5,000.  We’ve only used it once… this will be our second time.

I think we pay around $50/month.

I wish I could rep this plan and the company, but I would have to be an insurance agent, or something like that.  I called them and they said if people are interested they could check out the website (Value Benefits of America) OR they could call the 800 number (800-366-2467) and ask for more information.

Even if we got an insurance policy like I had at work, I would keep this type of policy – it’s been awesome.  (If that changes, I’ll blog about it :))